The Healing Power of Music

“I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah”[1]

These words from the song Hallelujah made famous by the movie Shrek indicate a power in music known from ancient times.

Though David used what we would call “crude” instruments and chords, there was a power in the music to calm the soul of his employer and king, Saul. It worked so well that Saul kept him around, in spite of his envy of David. (Saul was known to throw a spear or two at David while he was playing.)

Today, we have so much music available to us! We don’t have to be in the presence of a musician to hear their music. Music is ubiquitous. We wake up to music. We listen to music on our way to work or to school. We listen to music when we are at work. We listen to music when we work out. Music is in the background at the restaurant when we eat lunch, or at the café when we meet for a coffee. Music is in the background at the grocery story and the shops we visit for almost everything. For some people, music is what lulls them to sleep at night.

But not all music is equal. We can choose music for its healing power, for our enjoyment, or to set our mood.

Music on the Mind

Our ears convey so much more information to our brains than just words. Music is brain-food. It can keep an aging brain healthy. Click to Tweet.

Research with SPECT and Functional MRI scans reveal that many areas of the brain are stimulated by music. [2]

Listening to music can change your brain chemistry. It can improve auditory and verbal memory, focused attention and mood. For example:

• Tradition tells us that Thomas Jefferson, at the age of 33, was an accomplished musician, and would take breaks from writing the Declaration of Independence to play the violin, which helped him think.
• There are cases of people who have strokes who are unable to speak, but they can sing normally.
• Children who learn to play a musical instrument have better verbal intelligence.[4]

Besides exercising the brain in a unique way, music has a primary connection to our hearts, or our emotions. The music we like tells a lot about who we are inside. People enjoy “Death Metal,” for example, because it expresses what they feel inside. Anger and frustration reflects their mood. On the other hand, those who have peace in their hearts may find more in common with Beethoven, Mozart, or Brahms.

We connect with a certain type of music because it expresses our deepest emotions. This is not to say that we only have one emotion. We can connect with many different types of music because we have multiple emotions – even simultaneously. But there are certain types of music that express who we are inside, that enhance enjoyment and positive outlook.

Not only can music express what we currently feel, but it can also create feelings inside us. Movies, for example, are not the same without the music; they become 2-dimensional and lifeless without a score.

Music tells stories of emotion: what to feel and when. Click to Tweet.

Without music, a movie is boring – the story speaks only to our brains and doesn’t engage the emotions. The main purpose of music is to serve the story just like wardrobe and set design. The music sets the mood for the scene, conveying what we should be feeling. When we hear foreboding music, we know something bad is about to happen, and we cringe in expectation. And when the music is joyful and happy, we turn our emotions to feel joy and happiness. We would hate a movie that didn’t have the emotions (music) congruent with the content (visual scenes).

Music can change our mood and feelings about people, as well. Studies indicate that people will rate a neutral face as happy or sad, depending on the type of music playing in the background.

“I think music in itself is healing.
It’s an explosive expression of humanity.
It’s something we are all touched by.”

~ Billy Joel

Music and the Emotions

The following is taken from a report on music found in Medical Daily:[5]

“The research, group led by Prof. Daniel J. Levitin of McGill University’s Psychology Department, scoured hundreds of scientific papers linking music to changes in physiology and how the body worked. Two particular areas of benefit were found: in the immune system and in mental state reducing stress.

Here are some highlights from the review:

• Listening to music was better than prescription medications in reducing stress before surgery.
• People who listened to music had an increase in their levels of Immunoglobulin A (IgA), a type of antibody that is present at mucosal surfaces (digestive tract, lungs, etc.) and helps to prevent infections.
• Music listeners had higher numbers of an immune cell type called “natural killer cells,” whose job it is to attack bacteria, infected cells, and cancerous cells.
• Listening to music reduced levels of cortisol in the body. Cortisol is a stress hormone that has many physiological effects, one of which has a role in promoting obesity.“

If we only consider that music can lower cortisol, the adrenal stress hormone, the rest of the benefits will be seen. Cortisol suppresses the immune system such as IgA antibodies and Natural Killer (NK) cells, leading to more infections, reactions, and cancer.

Having that much power over our adrenal system allows us to both prevent and treat illness – with music. Click to Tweet.

Prescription medications can’t touch the power of music for stress because music reaches the very heart of our emotions. More than just expressing what we feel inside, music can actually change our emotions. The anxiety of surgery will vanish as the music soothes our hearts. This works in many situations. With music now available constantly in a phone, iPod, or other portable device, many people are able to function in the world much better than if they didn’t have music. For example, many dentists now have headphones available so a patient can listen to music and relieve stress while their teeth are being worked on.

In 2011, when Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot, music therapy through singing eventually restored her ability to speak.[6]

Making Connections

Today, we are taught to use our brains for everything. We avoid emotion and reward thought, causing us to disconnect our brains from our hearts. One of the ways the Apostle Paul describes our situation is that people would be, “without natural affection.” (2 Timothy 3:3)

Our modern world is made up of numbers, stock markets, commodities, and statistics – even our entertainment is digital! Our relationships blossom through technical connections like Facebook and text messages. Our brains are filled with stuff – so much stuff that we can’t stuff them with any more stuff. We are in an age of “too much!” Too much what? Too much everything – food, toys, cars, information, games, messages, work, money, and, yes, even music.

On the other extreme are those we might call “digitally impaired.” These people “wear their heart on their sleeve” and they always seem to be in a quagmire of emotions. They aren’t able to function in a world of numbers. They follow their appetites into debt, bad relationships, and poor health. They just don’t use their brains.

However, in spite of all our thought and reflection, we ultimately make our decisions based on emotion. Our choice of friends, spouse, purchases, food, and hobbies, for example, do not come from careful thought, but from our emotions. We do what we feel like doing. We eat what we like. We associate with those we like. And, we even listen to the music that touches our hearts. Our heart is making decisions that we think are coming from our brain.

We don’t have a clear understanding of the heart. Our hearts are hidden, and don’t connect with the mind. Many of us these days experience some pretty intense emotions when we’re in some very passive states: our hearts race as we fear for the well-being of a fictional character on a movie screen, while we sit back and watch from a cushioned seat; or we marinate and stew for hours in powerful feelings of longing or anger while we lie motionless on our couches. Our emotions, however, were designed and fine-tuned to help guide choices.

The Power of Music

Music has the power to change us by bringing the mind, body and emotions into unity. Click to Tweet.

Music proceeds through the brain, touching all of the points mentioned above, from our cerebral cortex to our primitive brain stem, and brings these together. Music then touches our heart, emotions, feelings, needs, and desires. Finally, music brings them all together in one.

The power of music, then is in bringing the mind and heart together as one. The chemical effect of this connection can be seen in the body changes noted above – adrenal cortisol, endorphins, and the immune system response. When we feel the music in our hearts our stress is relieved and we feel happier. The type of music can vary as long as the listener connects with it. This is why we can listen to the blues and feel better. However, what is more important is the combined effect on our entire being. By helping bring unity to our body, heart and brain, music can touch our very soul, and bring healing of mind, and heart.

Ultimate Healing

When we understand the power of music, we can use it to help us change, to become what we want, or to reach our full potential. If we desire to change, we can seek music that expresses what we would want to experience in our hearts, and listen to it. Music aids the change by allowing the heart to feel it first, connecting the heart and brain together. Often, we aren’t aware of how music affects us. Change may come gradually, or suddenly, depending on our openness to it, or the “softness” of our heart.

In an important way, our relationship with God is affected by music. Worship has always included music. The Psalms are mostly songs, which include instructions for music. The evening Jesus was going “like a lamb to the slaughter,” He and His disciples sang a hymn, maybe one of the Psalms. (See Matthew 26:30.) Music allows God’s Word to penetrate the heart more easily and thoroughly than words alone can.

Music can even prepare the way for our eternal healing. For example, the Heavenly music of hymns helps us to sense, feel, or experience God in a new way. There is a language in the music, as well as the words, that we learn over time. It’s important to note that this level of connection is not achieved by listening to music that merely touches our earthly heart, but touches our spiritual heart as well. Many try to change the music to fit what they feel now by choosing a style they like, but this can’t change them to be, as King David was described, “A man after his own heart.” (1 Samuel 13:14) To seek the heart of God is to seek His music, and bring it into our heart.

As we do this, we change inside, becoming more holy in our hearts, and having a stronger connection with our Creator. Of course, listening to music isn’t the only thing, we must also love God by being obedient to him. But, choosing music that brings us close to God can transform us by conveying the Word directly into our hearts. Amazingly, almost imperceptibly, our brain and heart become one, and at the same time our soul becomes one with God. This is how music can be a catalyst for ultimate healing.

 

Sources:
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallelujah_(Leonard_Cohen_song)
[2] http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/brain-and-behavior/articles/2011/04/25/music-training-may-help-keep-aging-brain-healthy
[3] http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/listening-to-music-aids-in-stroke-recovery-42540/
[4] http://www.psmag.com/blogs/news-blog/music-training-enhances-childrens-verbal-intelligence-36701/
[5] http://www.medicaldaily.com/scientific-literature-shows-music-can-boost-immune-system-and-reduce-pain-244824
[6] Byron Janis, “A Healing Art,” The Wall Street Journal, May 7, 2014